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The Republican congressman from Florida Carlos A. Giménez published a direct demand to the Cuban regime on X this Thursday: "Freedom for all political prisoners unjustly imprisoned in Cuba!", accompanied by the Cuban flag. The message coincided with the release of the monthly report from Prisoners Defenders, which confirmed a historic record of 1,214 political prisoners on the island as of the end of February 2026.
According to the report, in February there were 28 new political arrests —23 men and five women— and only 21 releases, almost all due to sentences stemming from the protests on July 11, 2021. Since that popular uprising, 1,981 people have been deprived of their freedom for political reasons in Cuba.
The figures reveal a humanitarian crisis within Cuban prisons: 467 out of 1,214 inmates suffer from serious medical conditions due to abuse and lack of care; 47 have untreated mental disorders; 131 are women, and 31 were arrested as minors. At least seven inmates have died in custody since 2022, including Lázaro García Ríos, who passed away on January 22, 2026, after being denied medical attention while serving a 20-year sentence.
Javier Larrondo, president of Prisoners Defenders, warned this Thursday that "repression remains a constant" in the face of any expression of discontent.
The publication by Giménez on X occurred on a day marked by several urgent cases. Roilán Álvarez Rensoler, a prisoner of UNPACU, was on a hunger strike for 40 days and was hospitalized in Holguín with severe health deterioration.
Alexander Verdecia Rodríguez suffered a brutal beating by six guards in Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey after shouting slogans. And Cubalex filed the same day a habeas corpus petition in the Artemisa Court to demand the immediate release of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who has been serving a five-year sentence since 11J.
Giménez, born in Havana in 1954 and emigrated to the United States in 1960, is the only member of the U.S. Congress born in Cuba. He represents Florida's 28th District and has ramped up his activism regarding the island in recent weeks, alongside the Trump administration's pressure on the Díaz-Canel regime. Last Monday, he stated that Trump “is pushing the regime to its limits”.
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